Cairo Under Isma'il Pasha: a Divided City
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Portland State University PDXScholar Young Historians Conference Young Historians Conference 2020 Apr 27th, 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Cairo Under Isma'il Pasha: A Divided City Chloe N. Moehling Riverdale High School Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/younghistorians Part of the History Commons, and the Political Science Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Moehling, Chloe N., "Cairo Under Isma'il Pasha: A Divided City" (2020). Young Historians Conference. 20. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/younghistorians/2020/papers/20 This Event is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Young Historians Conference by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Moehling 1 Chloe Moehling Keldorf Global City 13 March 2020 Cairo Under Isma’il Pasha: A Divided City Cairo, Egypt is a city often thought of as ancient, exotic, and foreign, nestled within the shadows of the great pyramids. During the late nineteenth century, Cairo underwent a series of changes that would alter the physical and cultural development of the city, resulting in a number of political changes. From 1863 to 1879 Egypt was ruled by Viceroy Isma’il Pasha. During his reign, Isma’il divided the city into ‘old Cairo’ and ‘new Cairo,’ with ‘new Cairo’ being a modern, grand, European-looking development on the western side of the city along the Nile, and ‘old Cairo,’ on the Eastern side being untouched by Isma’il in terms of architecture, leaving it crumbling and neglected. Isma’il is famously quoted as saying “ my country is no longer part of Africa, for we are now a part of Europe” (“Making Cairo Medieval” 56). In the development of ‘new Cairo,’ Isma’il created an immense reliance on European and especially British businesses to fund his projects, ultimately creating a great amount of debt. The physical divide between the two areas of the city are clear with the division of east and west; new and old, and as a result of the physical divide, a cultural divide was created between the Europeanized Egyptian elite and the poor, working class people residing in ‘old Cairo.’ Isma’il created the physical divide in his intentional efforts to westernize the image of his city, which would come at the expense of his people. It was, in fact, Isma’il Pasha’s overspending in the physical and cultural ‘Europeanization’ of Cairo from 1863 to Moehling 2 1879 which ultimately led to the country’s dependency on British Entities, resulting in the British occupation of 1882. Isma’il Pasha, born in Cairo in 1830, was the grandson of the great Muhammad Ali, the first Viceroy, or governing representative of the Ottoman Empire, to rule after the French occupation of Egypt from 1798 to 1801 (“Isma’il Pasha”). Isma’il’s father, Ibrahim, the son of Muhammad Ali, died after only 40 days in office in 1848, and was succeeded by Abbas I, who ruled from 1848 to 1854. Upon his death, Abbas was succeeded by Sa’id Pasha who ruled from 1854 to 1863 (“Ibrahiem Pasha”), and from 1863 to 1879, Isma’il Pasha was given the title of Viceroy, until his title changed to Khedive (another word for Viceroy, only hereditary) in 1867. Muhammad Ali, Isma’il Pasha’s grandfather, saw value in learning from the Europeans, as seen in his sponsoring of the overseas education of a select group of promising children. Before becoming Viceroy, Isma’il was sent to study at the Saint cyr Military Academy in Paris, where it is said he gained a deep appreciation for the European lifestyle, theatre, and architecture (Abu-Lughod). From the begining of Muhammad Ali’s reign in 1805, Egypt held a sort of semiautonomous position within the Ottoman Empire as a result of earlier capitulations. From 1517, the Ottoman Empire ruled Egypt after defeating the Mamluks (high-ranking slave soldiers), but then lost power in 1798 during the French occupation, which lasted until 1801. After regaining power, the Ottomans named Muhammad Ali as Viceroy. Muhammad Ali, to assert his power, created a new administrative structure by massacuring the majority of the remaining Malmuks and eliminating the political influence of religious leaders. He then acquired a firman , or decree from the sultan stating that his family would obtain hereditary rule as Viceroy over Egypt (“Egypt”). Moehling 3 As newly appointed Viceroy in 1863, Isma’il was fortunate enough to take over during a time of prosperity. The American Civil War had created an immense demand for cotton, for which Egyptian soil could produce a great amount by relying on cheap labor to produce. In the year 1864 alone, Egyptian exports were valued at 14,416,661 British pounds, and with only 5,291,297 pounds spent in imports, created immense profit for the Egyptian Government (McCoan). Egyptian cotton was exported to British, French, Italian, and Spanish companies, but relied heavily on Britain, making up one-fifth of their cotton revenue (“The Money Market Review”). After the American Civil War’s end in 1865, Isma’il attempted to find the same success in the sugar refining industry, but the project soon failed because of dismal returns on investments (Overton). Isma’il’s economic prosperity allowed him to justify his frivolous spending to make Cairo a civilized urban destination that met European expectations. Quickly after gaining power, Isma’il developed a plan to create ‘new Cairo’ along the banks of the Nile in Parisian style layout and architecture (Fig.1). The new development was designed in part by Ali Mubarak, a native Egyptian who studied Civil Engineering in France under Muhammad Ali (Abu-Lughod), and the unnamed project director for the Bois de Boulogne park in France (Nightengale 207). It was an ambitious project that was never fully realized, yet, his efforts still cost Egypt millions of British pounds in loans to European banks (McCoan). A major factor for Isma’il wanting to create the ‘new Cairo’ was the opening of the Suez Canal. Located 134 km Northeast of Cairo, the Suez Canal project began under the rule of Ismail's predecessor, Sa’id Pasha, and was the brainchild of a French diplomat by the name Ferdinand de Lesseps. The project aimed to shorten the distance trade ships had to travel between India and Europe (India being under British control at this time), which would make immense profits for Moehling 4 European trade ship companies (Crabites). The grand opening of the Suez Canal provided Isma’il with the opportunity to introduce the western world to the ‘new Cairo,’ one in which he hoped could rival the beauty of the Haussmannian architecture he saw in Paris. The Suez Canal project was ratified by the Ottoman Empire in 1866, giving Isma’il only three years to complete his ‘new Cairo’ before the Canal’s grand opening in November of 1869 (Abu-Lughod). The massive £ 91,000,000 debt (Abu-Lughod) acquired by 1876 from Isma’il’s opulent spending in the preparation, celebration and completion of the Suez Canal created a need for outside consultation. Faced with these debts, the Caisse de la Dette Publique, or Commission of the Public Debt was established in 1876 with representatives from Italy, Austria, France, and England, and Egyptian finances were placed under the dual control of Britain and France. The end of Isma’il’s reign came in 1879 when, in response to European control over Egypt’s finances, he worked to rid Egypt of international control, relying on nationalist rhetoric to put his circle of wealthy Egyptians and military leaders against European control, causing concern within France and England, resulting in their pressuring of the Ottoman sultan to remove Isma’il in favor of his son, Tawfiq (“Egypt”). By 1879, Egypt’s debts amounted to around £ 152,000,000 (McCoan), and the nationalist rhetoric spread by Isma’il created increasing uproar within Egypt. It was the riot of June 11th 1882, in response to British naval ships arriving in Alexandria, a port city in Egypt that resulted in the British military occupation of Egypt (“Egypt”). The Suez Canal is often thought of to be one of the greater achievements of Isma’il Pasha and his predecessor, Sa’id Pasha. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the former tutor of Sa’id Pasha and the son of a former French Consul of Egypt, is said to be the catalyst for the building of the Suez Canal (Mestyan). Having gained the trust of Sa’id in his childhood years (being Sa’id’s only Moehling 5 friend), de Lesseps intended to put “France in control of that strategic waterway, [and] make his country mistress of the seas” (Crabites 6), showing his political intentions that ultimately proved no match to Great Britain. In 1869, European, and especially the British shipping business was booming with the creation of a new, innovative steam ship with screw propellers that reduced their reliance on coal and shortened travel times. With the creation of the canal, the travel time from India to England was significantly reduced, as “to reach Bombay from Liverpool required an 11,560-sea-mile trip round the Cape of Good Hope for a sailing ship; by substituting the canal route for the Cape, a steamship could save 5,777 of these nautical miles --- almost exactly half” (Fletcher 559). T he geographic location of the Suez Canal made it a valuable asset to European tradesmen, as it reduced the time it took to arrive at Indian or other Asian ports, and saved them a great deal of money in coal.